Has previously explained in one of my post, I have a noise in my front suspension, seems to be coming from the left side and happens over rough roads, and here in Gatineau Quebec, Canada, we have plenty of those. In the past 2 years my dealer has replaced 3 strut, all control arm bushings, steering column and steering gear, they have also retighten my link kits and glued strut bushing, yet the noise persist. This week I got the service manager involve since It has been in, 4 times this month alone, and nothing is done, plus the warranty ends in a couple of days.

He came back to me with an explanation that sounded completely ridicules. He said that the speed rate of my tire combined with the fact they are 17’’ make for a rougher ride and because of that my suspension is breaking down. That the HHR LS cannot have Z rated tires on it, that it was not meant for that . Note that I am not complaining of my car offering me a not so smooth ride, in fact I see no difference, I am complaining of a knocking noise over bumps... But I still went on and tried my winter tires, they are same speed rated has the original equipment plus they are 15’’ so it offers a bigger side wall that should help absorbs the roads imperfections, sure enough the noise is still very present no changes. So this morning I called the service manager and ask if it was possible for me to go take a road test with him, to show what’s the noise I am concern about, who knows, maybe they simply haven’t pick up on it. Here is the response I got: we have spent 3h on you HHR and found nothing is loose, we have tried the chassis hears and nothing shows up, we inspected and road tested it with tires of a new HHR on the lot and no noises was present, therefore there is nothing more we can do for you, it’s pointless that I go take a road test with you, there is nothing wrong with your car.

WOW what is that... so I guess the noise is a figment of my imagination.
The thing is that this car is really my wife’s ride, she knows nothing about car and really don’t care as longs has it goes from a-z. She commutes with her sister in my car everyday and both say it’s a scary noise its fairly load and you can even feel a vibration in the car. But it seems its not there according to the dealer...

So now I called GM Canada customer service they are going to get involve.. whatever that means. Can’t wait to see what will come out of this..

 

Any other dealership you can try? I have the same touring suspension with 18" Z rated tires. Yes it's stiffer than the stock, but if you are hearing it running 15" wheels/tires, you know it's not the tires. Sounds like you just have a piss poor dealership to work with.

 

Same thing here as you are describing. Check that end link, all it takes is you and a friend. with the car on and in park cut the wheel all the way to the left. Shut teh car off and get out and go to your passenger side, and reach inside the wheel well, and grab ahold of the 10inch, skinny bar that connects the strut to the sway bar. ANd have a friend shake the car back and forth, I bet your noise goes away.

You CANT rely on shops or dealers to find it and fix it for you, they need instruction otherwise will waste a ton of your $.

 

Yeah, I'd try a different dealer if you can....